General Counsel

Gridco; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Gridco is seeking its first in-house General Counsel to lead commercial contracting, claims and risk, insurance, labor and employment, regulatory compliance, and strategic development across multi-state operations.

You will review and negotiate prime contracts and subcontracts, manage claims with insurers, oversee licensing and bonding, and guide corporate transactions, governance, and outside counsel engagements.

Qualifications

• J.D. and active bar in good standing (Alabama eligible in-house).
• 12+ years of construction/engineering industry experience, in-house or at a firm with construction practice.
• Strong command of contractor risk: indemnity, liens, bonding, site conditions, and delay/productivity claims.
• Fluency in multi-state employment law, wage/hour exposure in field workforce.
• Proven track record negotiating with sophisticated counterparties and counsel.

Responsibilities

• Commercial contracting: review, negotiate, and enforce contracts and subcontracts; build a contract playbook.
• Claims and risk: oversee workers' comp, liability, auto claims, reserve adequacy, and litigation strategy.
• Insurance and surety: manage program structure, limits, retentions, and bonding capacity, including captive involvement.
• Labor and employment: advise on travel time, per diem, overtime, prevailing wage, and payroll compliance across states.
• Regulatory, licensing, and payments: maintain licensing, registrations, OSHA/DOT compliance, and lien/bond remedies.
• Strategic development: advise on teaming, NDAs, capacity commitments, and multi-party deal structuring.
• Corporate and transactional: support acquisitions, loans, governance, and board materials.
• Program and stewardship: manage outside counsel, holds, data privacy, and ethics/compliance calendar.

Skills

Contract negotiation

Risk management

Regulatory compliance

Labor and employment law

Litigation strategy

In-house counsel

Education

J.D. and bar admission

Job description

We are searching for Gridco's first in-house General Counsel. A substantial part of the work is operational: the performance contracts we work under, the claims our insurers pay, the employment questions our leadership brings you. The rest is forward-looking — structuring and de-risking the multi-party opportunities in the commercial and industrial segments where our infrastructure capabilities position us to win significant work.

What You Do:

Commercial contracting.

Review, negotiate, and enforce prime contracts, master service agreements, subcontracts, purchase orders, and teaming agreements. Build Gridco's contract playbook — standard positions, fallback language, and escalation thresholds that let project teams close routine agreements without you. The terms that move money get your attention: indemnity and additional insured obligations, consequential damages waivers, liquidated damages, differing site conditions, change order and notice provisions, retainage, termination, and flow-down to subcontractors.

Claims and risk.

Manage workers' compensation, general liability, and commercial auto claims alongside our third-party administrator and broker. Oversee reserve adequacy, subrogation, and recovery. Own litigation strategy and the outside counsel who execute it. Partner with our VP of Safety on incident response, including privilege preservation on internal investigations.

Insurance and surety.

Manage the annual insurance placement with our broker — program structure, limits, retentions, potential captive program involvement. Own the surety relationship, including general indemnity agreement terms and bonding capacity.

Labor and employment.

Advise on the exposures specific to a multi-state field workforce: travel time, per diem, storm work overtime, and varying state pay practices. Handle prevailing wage, Davis‑Bacon, and certified payroll compliance. Manage EEOC charges and employment litigation. Advise on restrictive covenants, terminations, accommodations, and I‑9 compliance. Gridco operates open shop across all service lines.

Regulatory, licensing, and payment rights.

Maintain contractor licensing and qualifying party requirements in every state we operate, along with entity registrations and good standing. Handle OSHA citation response and DOT/FMCSA fleet compliance. Preserve and enforce mechanic's lien, bond claim, and prompt payment remedies — a recurring cash recovery function, not a reactive one.

Strategic development.

Partner with the executive team on commercial, industrial, and data center pursuits. Structure teaming agreements, joint ventures, NDAs, and capacity commitments, and allocate risk in multi-stakeholder deals involving owners, developers, EPCs, utilities, and OEMs. Pressure-test whether a pursuit's contractual structure actually supports the margin the pursuit assumes.

Corporate and transactional.

Support buy‑side acquisitions end to end: NDAs, letters of intent, diligence, purchase agreements, and post‑close integration. Support credit agreement compliance and entity work alongside the finance team. Maintain entity governance, minute books, and board materials at an institutional standard.

Program and stewardship.

Select and manage outside counsel against a budget you own. Maintain litigation holds, records retention, and subpoena response. Own the code of conduct, the ethics reporting channel, data privacy and vendor security commitments, and the compliance calendar.

What You Bring:

• J.D. and active bar admission in good standing. If you are licensed outside Alabama, you must be eligible for Alabama in‑house counsel registration.
• Twelve or more years of practice, including meaningful construction or engineering industry experience — in‑house at a contractor or EPC firm, or at a firm with a substantial construction practice.
• Command of contractor‑specific risk: indemnity, additional insured, lien and bond rights, differing site conditions, and delay and productivity claims.
• Multi‑state employment law fluency, including prevailing wage and wage‑and‑hour exposure in a field workforce.
• A track record of negotiating with sophisticated counterparties and their counsel without escalating every issue.
• Comfort in a company still building its systems, and willingness to do the work personally when necessary.